nexus 4

The iPhone 5 launched back in September 2012 and in smartphones, half a year can be a long time. Since then we've seen the Google LG Nexus 4 launch, the Nokia Lumia 920 hit, the BlackBerry Z10 start to roll out internationally, and now the new king of the spec sheet, the announcement of the all-new HTC One.

Apple has released the taller, thinner, faster, lighter, brighter iPhone 5 and now Google has struck back with the LG Nexus 4. So what's a gadget geek to do? Apple owns the patent (we think maybe literally...) on elegant, futuristic hardware, consumer-friendly software, and the top content service in the world. Google and LG have brought almost every spec you can imagine (and a few you couldn't!), have the most powerful, customizable software, and the best internet services on the planet. How can you possibly decide between them?

Rene Ritchie and Ryan Block of GDGT talk Apple's recent management re-organization, the future of Forstall, the iPad mini launch and where Apple goes from here, and the LTE compromise in the new Nexus 4. This is an iMore show special edition.

There's quite a bit of schadenfreude ricochetting through the Apple community (and grumbling in the Android camp) today after Google's latest phone, the Nexus 4, was announced without support for fast LTE 4G networking. That's because the iPhone 5 has support not only for LTE, but for international LTE, all wrapped up in an incredible thin, decently long-lifed package. And Android certainly is no stranger to LTE. If Apple can add it for its flagship phone, and many an Android manufacturer has LTE (like, all of them), why can't Google? It's actually more a matter of "won't," not "can't." Simply put, the Nexus 4 isn't, was never intended to be, and could never be a flagship phone.

Google and LG have just announced their all-new Android 4.2 flagship phone, the Nexus 4 and it's a doozy. We all know Apple and the iPhone 5 are more about experience and ecosystem than speeds and feeds, but that doesn't mean we're not still curious how exactly those specs stack up. After all, specs are the engine that drive the experience, and while Apple's end-to-end integration lets them get better results with less horsepower, it's still fun to see what Android manufacturers are able to cram into their devices.